Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra walks on the sideline late in the fourth quarter of his team’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 of the playoffs in Miami. (AP Photo/Joe Skipper)

MIAMI – Hassan Whiteside became the poster child for the Miami Heat’s playoff failure this season.

But Erik Spoelstra, the man who appeared to lose faith in Whiteside as the season progressed, went easy on the Heat’s 7-foot center on Friday.

Spoelstra, available to the media on exit interview day, is giving Whiteside, the Heat’s highest paid player after signing a four-year, $98-million contract two summers ago, the benefit of the doubt. Spoelstra said Whiteside’s season took another direction after suffering a bone bruise on opening night in Orlando when he collided with Magic center Nikola Vucevic.

“Boy, that’s probably what I’ll look back on as most frustrating is what could have been if he didn’t collide with Vucevic,” Spoelstra said. “That changed the course of his season. He really battled and grinded through not feeling 100 percent, several times. It’s just one of those seasons that never felt like he was able to fully be healthy and ready to give like he was in that first game.”

Whiteside’s numbers declined to 14.0 points 11.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in just 54 games. But that was the best the Heat would see. During the first round, in which the Heat were ousted in five games by the Sixers, Whiteside’s production plummeted to 5.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. He averaged just 15.4 minutes, down from 25.3 during the regular season.

Whiteside logged just 8:04 of action during the fourth quarter in the series, including three games in which he did not play at all in the final 12 minutes.

“We’re well aware of the storylines that can come out during the playoffs,” Spoelstra said. “Hassan’s not the first player nor the last player that will have experienced a playoff series and not been able to contribute the way he envisioned or wanted. That’s why it’s so important to get in, to experience it, all the emotions and the highs and lows and everything in between because then you have an opportunity to really grow.

“I think this was an important series for him to manage. The narrative and the storylines that will be out there, I do think are unfair about Hassan right now.”

Whiteside, who was not available to speak to the media Friday, was frustrated by his lack of playing time throughout the season, often raising his concern unsolicited. He was fined once for a profanity-laced rant.

And his final words of the season, after playing a season low 10:05 in Miami’s Game 5 loss, were more of the same, once again expressing frustration for “not being out there.”

“The thing is as players, you don’t want to give yourself an excuse,” Wade said. “You want to look and see where you can be better at. It’s easy to say that this series wasn’t a ‘big-man’ series. Or it’s easy to say that Coach did this or that or I got in foul trouble. Don’t give yourself an excuse. Just go into the summer and work on what you need to work on mentally and physically and get yourself ready for when this opportunity comes again. That shows your real character.”

Spoelstra, though, clearly is refraining from criticizing Whiteside, for whatever reason, one of which could be the Heat’s desire to trade Whiteside this offseason.

“I love working with Hassan,” he said. “I love the journey. I love all of it.”

Whiteside missed 28 games, 18 because of two bruises to the same knee and nine in March because of a left hip-flexor strain.

“He had a very good training camp, a very productive preseason,” Spoelstra said. “He started off on a great note and got hurt. And that’s the unfortunate part about it. It’s not about making any excuse for him, it is a reality.

“Players have to go through that from time to time, but he played six weeks with that not at a level that he wanted to. Then we had to sit him out for six weeks, and from there it just became uneven. You’re talking about a player that misses almost 30 games. It is hard and challenging to get into the rhythm with a team and to produce at the highest level that you want to.”

[…] Elisburg must find a way to get out from a couple of cap-busting contracts like those belonging to Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson along with other moves for the Heat not to become the Dolphins and trapped in […]

[…] Whiteside was fined by the organization in March for a profanity-laced rant about his lack of playing time and also expressed his dissatisfaction about how he was being used by coach Erik Spoelstra in the Heat’s first-round playoff series against the Sixers, which Miami lost in five games. Whiteside averaged 5.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in 15.4 minutes in the postseason. […]

[…] The 7-foot center has become the poster boy for the Heat’s struggles the last two years with his four-year, $98.4 million contract front and center in any discussion about the underachieving center. […]